Federal foot-dragging on dangerous portable generators

Trump’s point person on the Consumer Safety Commission ignores efforts to make the appliances safer

September 16, 2018 3:29PM (UTC)

People can expect to die after Hurricane Florence, not from the storm itself, but from carbon-monoxide poisoning from portable generators the Trump administration has failed to make safer.

At least 12 people using these generators died during Hurricane Irma in 2017, people like Terryn Wilson, 7, whose mother got a generator after the storm, and Desiree Diaz Molina, 34, and her daughters, Kiara Lebron Diaz, 16, and Jan Lebron Diaz, 13. More died in Hurricanes Harvey and Maria, especially in Puerto Rico.

A 5,000-watt portable generator gives of about 1,500 grams of carbon monoxide an hour, about as much as 450 idling mid-sized late-1990s cars. The generators can poison people so quickly they become confused and lose consciousness.

In November 2016, the commission voted 4-1 for a rule that would force manufacturers of portable generators to lower carbon-monoxide emissions.

In August 2017, Buerkle announced that the commission would drop efforts to impose mandatory standards for portable generators and instead endorse voluntary standards proposed by the portable generator industry.

In May, the Senate narrowly confirmed another Trump nominee to the commission, attorney Dana Baiocco, who has opposed requiring portable generators to be equipped with devices to limit carbon-monoxide emissions.